Will We Ever Have Peace? A Little Help Please...

[Tbag]

I'm just hoping for a little advice or reassurance if anyone has the time to spare!

I've never had two boys that are as up and down getting to know each other as Wyatt and Ludo so I'm not sure if what I'm seeing is normal or if I'm over thinking things/being too sensitive!

Wyatt is in his terrible teens at just 7 months so it wasn't easy finding him a friend. He used to be the submissive one but with Tango being ill and now new hierarchies he's turned into a little tyrant!

After two failed dates we met Ludo and humping was less vigorous, Ludo more accepting and an hour in the bonding pen had them happily sharing hay and veggies. All quiet on way home in travel box. Get them home and Wyatt went nuts over asserting the cage as his territory, humping the living daylights out of poor Ludo and things got very intense - Amber level sort of behaviour. Moved to conservatory with more space and things finally settled down again so I didn't separate and tried the cage again with calmer results.

They've settled a lot more but now their behaviour is really puzzling me. They'll happily share a bowl of nuggets/veggies/hay side by side. Wyatt has started following Ludo around at floor time like he used to with Tango - Ludo has no issues with this. If we have them out for lap time they'll snuggle together.

But for seemingly no reason there will be moments in the cage when Wyatt decides to really launch himself at Ludo! There'll be chasing and chattering, Ludo will go hide and it'll settle right down again, returning to normal in minutes.
Other times Wyatt will approach Ludo in a friendly, chilled, just want to say hi way and Ludo will (I think) get defensive and chatter/run off - and when he runs off we get the chasing/chattering!

Is this just Wyatts hormones and residual dominance or are we looking at something unstable? They've been together for about 2 weeks now, no bites or blood either. If anyone has any insights Id really appreciate it as the whole thing has put Daddypig and I on edge!

 

[Wiebke]

Wyatt is really at the worst stage of his hormones right now; if you can get him and Ludo through the next few crucial weeks without things blowing up, that will be a great achievement.

 

[Tbag]

That's what I suspected! Thank you for confirming.

I really hope we can make it as they're both such lovely chaps. And for all his moodiness Wyatt was so lonely and sad on his own!

I think I've done everything I can, including a bonding bath which did seem to calm things down, but if you have any tips that'd be great!

 

[Wiebke]

That's what I suspected! Thank you for confirming.

I really hope we can make it as they're both such lovely chaps. And for all his moodiness Wyatt was so lonely and sad on his own!

I think I've done everything I can, including a bonding bath which did seem to calm things down, but if you have any tips that'd be great!

You can separate them short term if things get really dodgy, but you can do that only so often, or too much meddling will destabilise their relationship further. Right now, you are along for the ride on the tiger...

 

[Tbag]

Woohoo

I'l havent felt a need to separate since day 2, and then I held my nerve and it was ok so with prayers to all guinea gods I hope we'll be ok!

 

[Tbag]

Just as I think things were really settling down Wyatt has started putting his parts on again!
Humping had pretty much ceased, chasing down to a bare minimum but this week Wyatt's felt the need to jump on top of poor Ludo all the time again - we had them on our laps at the weekend and they were happily snuggled side by side, nothing going on and then out of the blue Wyatt does his thing. Ludo sat and took it very calmly then (it wasn't a particularly vigorous effort to be fair! ) but in the cage he's started running off again and we're getting a bit more chasing as a result. Nothing as bad as to begin with though so I'm hoping its just another hormonal surge and we'll settle again!

HOWEVER, of course this all happens the week before we're traveling with them for Christmas - got the smaller 100 cage for the car (3 hour journey) and then taking run grids to extend cage space once we arrive at my folks so I'm hoping things wont be an issue as they'll end up with the same ground space as the 140 cage but if anyone can recommend any tips for keeping things as stable as possible during the change of scenery I'd appreciate it. Really don't want to be upsetting the balance at all. I'm going to use the same vetbed they're currently on and just fold it down to fit/take same cosies etc ... if theres anything else I haven't thought of?